Heaven and Beyond
by BeatleStone
Summary: An autobiography by Charlie B. Barkin, the star of All Dogs go to Heaven. Charlie reflects on his early life, his big break, his early retirement from acting and his personal struggles in this intimate portrait of an artist. Note: I envisioned this as taking place in the same universe as Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It'll make sense as you read along.
1. Chapter 1

I've had what most people would probably call an interesting life so far. That being said, when I first sat down to write this memoir, I had the strangest case of writer's block. Not what to include, but how. I've read my fair share of memoirs, both good and bad (not naming names) and I was constantly in awe of how these people were able to share their stories with the world like they were casually talking to a close family member. Needless to say, I have a newfound appreciation for them.

After sitting at my desk for hours at a time for three straight days, and being asked by my four-year-old if I was having a stroke twice (I had no idea she even knew what a stroke was), I simply just wrote a few pages detailing my childhood. And the rest was easier from that point on. Not easy, easier.

I hope that readers can find something to enjoy in this book, but I know this will piss a few people off. I don't know what the fallout will be if at all, but I am simply speaking the truth, and everyone is free to interpret this book as they wish.

I want to dedicate this book to the people I would not be here without. Thank you to my mother Loni, my father Burt, who recently passed at the time of writing this book, my wonderful sisters June and Tara, and all my nieces and nephews. Thank you to Lady Luddy and Tramp for setting me on the path where I've met so many amazing people. Thank you to Don Bluth and Gary Goldman for giving me my big break. Thank you to my dear friends, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh for helping me to realize my true potential. Thanks to the fans for all your support over the years, whether I deserve it or not. Thank you to Balto Norwood, the closest guy to a brother I've ever had and to Jenna Sedgwick, who I'm proud to consider another sister.

But most of all, I want to extend the biggest thanks to my incredible husband (and damn good manager), Kurt who put up with me reading Stephen King until three am and listens to my next crazy idea and our beautiful daughter, Juliet. At the end of a long stressful day that makes me want to dunk my head in the sand, I forget all about that when I come home to you. I love you so much.


	2. A Little Toon in Michigan

p style="text-align: center;" strong style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-align: center; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"A Little Toon in Michigan/strong/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"I was born just outside of Lansing, Michigan on February 11, 1964. There was only one other Toon family in town when my parents first moved there, and they left for California (the only reasonable move for Toons in America at the time) before I was born. My dad, Burt Barkin was born in Cork, Ireland and grew up in the Dublin area. He moved to New York when he was twenty-two and two years later he and my mom, Loni Bowzer met while they were waiting in line for a subway (their pictures can be seen in a book during the "Let Me Be Surprised" scene of emAll Dogs Go to Heaven/em)./p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"They moved to Michigan about a month before my older sister, June was born. Dad started a house painting business, while Mom painted at home (landscapes and a few portraits, not houses). Five years after June, I came along and six years later, my younger sister Tara was born. /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Mom had painted a picture of the NYC skyline and hung it in our living room. For us, this was a window to a magical world for my sisters and I. Mom's parents would visit us from there every thanksgiving, but we wouldn't visit their house till I was six, just after Tara was born. The trip there was the closest thing to hell any of us had any experienced, what with a nine hour drive with a newborn puppy, but June and I have nothing but fond memories of that trip. /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"We spent our childhood in a city, but that didn't prepare us for what New York had in store. This was was when New York was still pretty crappy throughout but to my six-year-old self, I had finally reached the magical land I had dreamed of. When my grandfather took us on a walk through Central Park, I thought I had walked into another dimension, turning a corner out of the massive concrete walls of the city into the lush world of Sheep Meadow, Turtle Pond, and the Balto statue./p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"We didn't see any shows, but when we walked down Broadway, taking in the bright marquees, something in me clicked, or at least started to. Here was a full-blown industry at work, filled with actors, artists, and directors all working together to create something beautiful. I thought about that as I fell asleep on a tiny cot in my grandparent's living room, but it would be the night after we came home that truly set me on my path./p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"On that warm summer night, after my parents put Tara to bed, June turned on NBC to emSaturday Night at the Movies/em. I had seen snippets of the moves on that block before this, but they always went past my bedtime, so I hadn't seen one all the way through. The night we got back from New York on a Friday night in July of 1970, I begged my parents to let me stay up for the movie after June showed me what it was on the TV Guide at our grandparent's house. We were all exhausted, so Mom and Dad probably didn't 100% understand what they were consenting to, but sure enough they kept their promise (after June reminded them of course)./p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"The movie was Walt Disney's emLady and the Tramp/em. I had been dying to see it ever since I Mom told me about a movie staring not just Toons, but Toon-Dogs. I barely spoke a word as my eyes absorbed this work of art and I still get a little tearful when I watch it today with my daughter. It was here where I first saw my idle, The Tramp. He and his co-star/wife Lady proved to my six-year-old self that there was definitely a life for a scrappy animated dog from Michigan in the world of entertainment./p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"Right then and there, I decided that I wanted to be an actor. I would hold onto this for the next 18 years till I would star in the film that would change my life forever, though not in the way I could have ever imagined./p 


End file.
